Kol's Horsemen
by Lynyrd Lionheart
Summary: -BEING REWRITTEN- They managed to fight their way back from the other side, but it came at a price. Now, as the darkest versions of themselves, they will rain blood and pain across the country and right into the heart of New Orleans. They have a grudge, and its target is the city's king. Post S5 TVD and S1 TO. Klaroline, Kalijah, Carenzo.


**AN: The prologue had a spectacular response, so thanks guys! Here is the first real chapter. We hop back in time, to before the prologue for this, and find out how Caroline died, and how they came to return to the land of the living. Chapter title comes from Bastille's song "Pompeii" and their "All this Bad Blood" album is basically the soundtrack of this story.**

**One. Lost in all of our vices**

Caroline Forbes was not a stranger to death. In fact, this was her second time experiencing it.

The first time she had been reborn a vampire.

This time, she thought it might end up being permanent.

"That was a rather nasty way to go. Not much by the way of dignity in that end, was there?"

Caroline didn't reply at first. She thought, perhaps, if she ignored him, Kol might simply disappear. She hadn't had much to do with the youngest Mikaelson brother – her only interaction with him had been when he'd invited her to have a drink with Klaus and him – but what she knew of him told her he wasn't her type of person. So, she ignored him and stared at her body.

It was mangled, the throat torn out.

By her ex-boyfriend.

Or at least the Traveller inhabiting his body.

"You can ignore me all you want, Darling, but that won't make you any less dead."

"Where is Stefan?" she finally asked, because while she would prefer to ignore him, she had come to the other side, only to find that Stefan wasn't there. He should be there. Tyler's possessed body had killed him as well, after all.

Kol didn't say anything, and Caroline finally whirled toward him, because she may not have interacted with him much, but she did know that silence wasn't his style.

He was watching her with a critical expression, surveying her up and down as though trying to determine her worth.

Or perhaps how she would handle whatever he was about to say to her.

"He's gone, Gorgeous."

Another accented voice, once again familiar. Because dealing with accented jerks in her life wasn't enough, now she had to be surrounded by them in death as well.

And wait… did he say Stefan was _gone_?

"Gone?" she demanded, whirling around to look Enzo dead in the eye. His expression was solemn, not at all like the usual infuriating smirk he wore around her, and it made her throat grow tight. Because he should be smirking and calling her Blondie, but instead he just watched her with serious eyes and Caroline _couldn't breathe_. "What do you mean gone? This is the Other Side. You can't just… _disappear_."

"It's all falling apart, Darling. And more and more of us are being sucked up by it. Your friend Stefan was one of the victims of the Abyss."

"The Abyss?" Caroline asked, and her lips felt numb as she spoke, because this couldn't be happening. Stefan couldn't be _gone gone_. Not Stefan. Not her best friend.

"It's what we call it. Since we don't actually know what's there, Abyss seemed appropriate," Enzo replied. He had stepped closer to her, his hand hovering over her shoulder, as though he wanted to offer her comfort but didn't know how. Considering how long he had spent in captivity, Caroline realized that it was possible that was exactly the case.

But she didn't want his comfort. She wanted Stefan.

Stefan who was gone.

"Maybe… maybe it's better. Whatever this place, that they're getting sucked to… maybe it's better. Maybe we would be better off there."

Caroline's eyes darted around, as though she could somehow magic herself a way to see into the Abyss, to see if everyone who had been taken there was happier. If there even _was_ anything there. Or had Stefan been sentenced to an eternity of … nothing?

"Don't be a fool, Goldilocks," Enzo said, his voice serious, and this time his hand made contact with her shoulder, a heavy presence there. It was comforting, even though Caroline didn't want it to be, didn't want to be comforted by _anyone_, let alone Enzo. "Following Stefan into the Abyss… you won't be happy there."

"You don't know that," Caroline replied, turning burning eyes on him. "You have no idea what's there-"

"It doesn't take a genius to know that it's nothing good… Caroline, right? The one Nik was so obsessed with. Looks like he discarded you as he does all of us that no longer benefit him. If we survive this, we should start a club," Kol drawled out, leaning against the parking barrier and watching them with that same critical gaze. "You may not be a genius, but you're certainly no fool. So put any thoughts of following your Salvatore into the Abyss away, because that's all they are – foolish."

"We're dead, so there won't _be_ any surviving this. And it sounds like the Abyss is our inevitable fate, anyway. So why not simply let go?"

Kol straightened and strolled toward Caroline and Enzo, who was still holding her shoulder. He paced around the pair, his gaze making her feel as though he were looking into the very heart of her, and it made her feel uncomfortable.

"There's a way," he said at last. "To get back to the land of the living… for us to be living again."

"We weren't living to begin with," Caroline pointed out, but her interest was piqued, and she quirked her head, watching him through narrowed eyes. "But I'm listening."

"Wonderful, because it requires us going into the Abyss."

Confusion. Two seconds ago he was saying following Stefan into the Abyss was foolish, and now he was saying it was the key to getting back to the land of the living?

"But you just said-"

"Following Stefan _would_ be foolish, Caroline" – Enzo's use of her actual name caught her attention. She wasn't sure that he had ever used it, beyond their first meeting, and it emphasized how precarious their current situation was – "but what Kol has planned… well, we wouldn't be dragged into the Abyss unprepared. We would walk in, eyes wide open and a plan in place."

"How does Kol know so much about this?" Caroline demanded, turning her suspicious gaze to the Original, who had been watching them in silence. When her narrowed gaze landed on him, Kol lifted his hands in a mockery of innocence, his expression far too sweet to mean anything good.

"My mother was a witch, Darling. And I've made other witch friends in my many years of life. I know things, and I've been gathering gossip here since this realm began to fall apart. We can get out of here… but we require help from a Traveller."

"A Trave – _please_ tell me you're not thinking Silas? Because we dealt with psycho already, and I'd rather lose myself to this Abyss than do that again."

"I died trying to prevent Silas entrance to our world if you recall," Kol drawled out, and Caroline thought his smirk might be even more irritating than Enzo's. "I would hardly assist him in getting there again. No, there is a reason we needed _you_ in particular for this little escape mission… well, your Salvatore would have actually worked as well, but Enzo there wanted _you_ and then Stefan was lost to the Abyss, so it ceased to be an option."

Caroline's eyes darted quickly to Enzo, who looked uncomfortable in the wake of Kol's statement. He met Caroline's gaze and shrugged uncomfortably, his eyes darting away.

"You're young," he said. "You deserve a second chance."

Caroline didn't believe that for a moment, but accepting it seemed the safer option, otherwise she'd start to ask _why_, and why always led to tragic backstories and dead puppies and that would make her feel sorry for him. And Caroline did _not_ want to feel sorry for Enzo. Pity was the first step towards grudging acceptance, and then suddenly you're being screwed against a tree in the forest.

Been there, done that, wrote the book.

"Okay, I need details," she said turning to Kol. "As many as possible. Leave nothing you know out."

(KH)

_When Immortals were first created, the spell formed a new world. Immortals were creatures that were never meant to exist, and so they belonged to neither Heaven or Hell. Instead there was a third option created for them – Purgatory. A place for them to reside until their true nature was decided, and they could pass through and find their peace, or be lost to the Abyss._

_ Of course, there is always small print in any spell, and so more than just Immortals were cursed to the Purgatory. The spirits of witches and werewolves, which had once been able to pass on, were to be caught in this Purgatory as well. And so, The Other Side was born of the spell that Silas and Amara so selfishly cast._

_ But now, The Other Side was falling apart, no longer able to hold the souls that were cursed to wander it, and so judgement was being cast swiftly in an attempt to empty it. Those who could accept that their time had come to an end could pass onto peace… but those unable to? They were to be sentenced to the Abyss – the place of darkness._

_ All were doomed to this fate… but there were one People able to negotiate with either the Abyss or the Peace. Travellers had created The Other Side, and Travellers could perform the darkest spells that would allow them exit from the netherworld_.

(KH)

"That's all very dramatic and whatever, but if Travellers have some sort of magical get-out-of-hell free card, then why didn't Markos use it?" Caroline asked when Kol finished his story. He shot her a glare, obviously less than pleased with her reaction to his story, and she shrugged unapologetically. It wasn't her fault there were plot holes.

"I would assume Markos didn't want to pay the price," he replied grudgingly. "Or perhaps he was unwilling to go into the Abyss to make the deal. You have to leave the Purgatory to make it, after all."

"Why not go to… what did you call it? The Peace. Why make a deal with darkness if you can go with light?" To Caroline, it made more sense. Want to make a deal with someone? Always choose the good guys.

"Caroline, Darling, do you really think the Peace will be as quick to make a deal as the Abyss? If you want life again, you make a deal with the Darkness… and that's where our Traveller is," the last bit was admitted grudgingly, and it was clear to Caroline that Kol really didn't like that she was questioning his genius.

Still not her fault it was so deeply flawed.

"Yeah, I think I'm probably not interested. Maybe I'll just, you know, accept my fate and go to the Peace-"

"Are you really so ready to die?" Enzo demanded, cutting her off and whirling her around. "You don't deserve to be dead, Caroline. Can you tell me that anything that has happened is your choice? Damon told me the stories – you were dragged into this against your will. _They_ dragged you in – Elena and her Salvatores – and you're telling me that you can accept fate, and simply stay dead, when Damon and Elena will continue to live on?"

Caroline clenched her teeth at that, because when he stated it so bluntly, it made it far more difficult to accept. She wished she could be like Bonnie, who was so willing to die for everyone. Bonnie would have no difficulty accepting this and moving on. She would go to the Peace and say to hell with Enzo and Kol.

And speaking of Bonnie…

"Where is Bonnie?" she demanded, looking around. "She's the Anchor. She can come here, so why isn't she?"

"Dying," Kol responded succinctly, and Caroline's spine stiffened at that, as she whipped her head to stare at him. "Surely you weren't naïve enough to think she would survive without Purgatory to keep her here? Without The Other Side, there is no need for an Anchor. And if there is no need for an Anchor, Bonnie will die. You could save her. Help us get into the Abyss, make this deal, and we can include Bonnie in it."

A thousand years had honed Kol's ability to manipulate to an acute point. Caroline could have, perhaps, resisted the temptation had it been just for her. Maybe.

But for her _and_ Bonnie?

"What about Stefan?" she asked slowly, biting her lip.

"Now you're just getting greedy, Darling," Kol replied, and Caroline glared at him, causing him to sigh and shrug. "We'll be making a deal, so maybe. But no guarantees. So, will you help us?"

Caroline bit her lip again. She knew she shouldn't. If Bonnie were there, she would tell her not to… but Caroline wanted to live. She wanted to survive and see her Mom again, and she wanted _Bonnie_ to live. Bonnie, who had sacrificed so much for them, who would accept her fate without a blink, but fight tooth and nail for her friends. Well, she deserved to have someone fight for _her_. So Caroline would do that, she would fight for both of them, and if she had to make a deal with the devil himself…

Well, then that's what she would do.

"Fine, I'll help," Caroline agreed with a nod. "So, who is this Traveller we'll be finding in the Abyss anyway? And why do you need me to do it?"

Kol and Enzo exchanged quick glances, and it crossed Caroline's mind that she should have asked when they became so buddy-buddy.

"Katerina," Kol said after a beat. "The Traveller is Katherine Pierce, and we need you because she sired Damon who sired _you_ and that means you have a blood tie to her."

Well, perhaps it would mean making a deal with the devil _herself_.

(KH)

Katherine didn't know how long she'd been floating in the darkness. It could have been seconds, it could have been centuries. Either way, she was cold and felt so very, very lost. Her entire life – five hundred years of misery and solitude – had been playing on repeat in her mind, the bad made worse, amplified by the darkness, and the good muffled until it was all but non-existent.

Even worse than the darkness were the shades. Katherine didn't know what they actually were, shade was just a name she had supplied herself, but whatever they were? They were malevolent and vicious. The darkness was so much worse when they were there, because she could all but feel their glee in her suffering. If the darkness amplified it, then the shades _fed_ on it. The more she suffered, the stronger they became, and that strength fed the darkness, which increased her suffering even more. And endless cycle, and Katherine thought she was probably going mad from it.

She floated, and suffered, and tried to block out the shades and the darkness, bits of sanity chipping away the more she remained in the shadows, haunted by memories and acts she couldn't erase.

"Katherine?"

Usually it was Nadia or Stefan. Sometimes it was Damon or her annoying little holier-than-thou Doppelganger.

"Katherine, can you hear me?"

The voice was a stranger to her, but Katherine knew it shouldn't be. That meant that it belonged to the better times, to moments when she felt something approaching happiness, and Katherine struggled to reach it, because this hadn't happened in… was it seconds? Hours? Days? Centuries? Katherine couldn't be sure, but it seemed lie eons since the happiness had tried to fight its way through.

"What do we do, Kol? She can't help us if she's…"

"Insane?"

This voice was a stranger to her. Had she ever heard it before? Maybe once, before the darkness, but it wasn't like the first voice. This one didn't belong to the happiness, nor did it belong to the darkness. It was simply irrelevant and so had left her mind before she ever made it to the void.

"C'mon Katerina. Snap to it, we have work to do."

This voice was more familiar, one with negative connotations.

_Mikaelson…_

Klaus? For a moment, Katherine struggled, because Klaus was here and Klaus meant pain and death… but Katherine was already dead. And Klaus was all but indestructible.

Confusion rose, fighting past the pain, and with it came recognition.

Kol. The voice belonged to Kol Mikaelson. The younger brother, one she had only met a handful of time, but whom had amused her, because he enjoyed assisting her, if for no other reason than the anger and frustration it caused his brother.

And the first voice was Caroline. Pretty little Caroline Forbes whom she had smothered, only to have her rise again and become a temporary thorn in her side. She had written her off as useless, only to find that there was wicked streak in the girl that reminded Katherine of herself, but that she had a loyalty to her that Katherine had never experienced and so respected.

Caroline Forbes who was here, which meant she was dead, and Caroline didn't deserve that.

Katherine felt phantom hands touch her face, and then Caroline's voice once more.

"Katherine, we need you to focus, to come back. We can get out of here, all of us… but we need your help. We need your magic."

"Not… magical…"

Katherine felt confused again. That voice, that harsh, broken voice, who did it belong to? It spoke words she had been thinking, but surely it wasn't _hers_? She didn't sound like that, did she?

"You _are_ magical, Katherine," said the second voice, the one she still couldn't place. "You're a Traveller, Love, and we need you to put that to use. We need you to make a deal."

So, it had been her voice, then. Katherine felt her mind begin to focus, to regain its capabilities, because Katerina Petrova was nothing if not a survivor, and the stranger's voice said she had a way out of this hell. A way out that she needed to focus to achieve.

"What do I do?"

_You deal with ussss…_

"What was that?" Caroline demanded, and Katherine felt her hand move from her face to her arm, and Katherine thought for a moment that the blonde might actually use her as a shield, even though the darkness meant they couldn't really see each other.

"The shades," Katherine replied grimly, because she could feel it, their malevolent presence come to try and overwhelm her. She grasped onto Caroline, Caroline who held some of the few fond memories Katherine had in the recent past – memories of working together against Wes, memories of her time in Elena's body and how, for a brief while, Katherine knew what it was like to have _friends_. Katherine held onto them, and Caroline, like a lifeline and fought to keep herself from drowning in the darkness that loomed with the shades. "They live here, they feed on the darkness, on the pain."

Katherine felt Caroline gulp, and a shiver go through her body as she felt the power of the shades, the horrible memories they brought with them, and Katherine wondered if the blonde could feel the cold that only the shades could cause.

"Fight for something good," Katherine hissed to her. "Fight for something good and tell me what to do."

"Exactly what they said, Katerina," Kol replied coolly, but Katherine swore there had been a tremor, that the Original was affected by the shades as well. "Maintain your sanity and _deal_ with them."

"We want out," Katherine called out into the darkness. "We want out. What is the price we have to pay to get that?"

Katherine heard Kol huff and mutter about amateurs, but he didn't know the shades, not like Katherine did. He didn't know how dangerous and cold they were. There would be no negotiations. If the shades decided to deal, there would be one offer – _only_ one offer – and they would either take it or leave it.

_Pretty little golden girl_, the shades hissed, and Katherine felt them, but they weren't targeting her. Caroline shivered against her, and Katherine heard her let out a little whimper. _Pretty little golden girl, let us have your _light_._

"No!" Katherine declared, and she pulled Caroline into her. She didn't know where this protectiveness was coming from – Caroline had been perfectly content to see her die, to help send her here and Katherine shouldn't _care_ about her… only…

_I slept with Klaus. Tell me what a horrible person I am._

She had been so damn _guilty_. Because she thought she had betrayed a friend, and it was torturing her, and when had Katherine ever felt bad for self-indulgence? When had her weak little doppelganger felt bad for self-indulgence?

Never, but Caroline did, and Katherine felt protective of her against her better judgement, didn't want the shades to torture her.

"You deal with _me_. You deal with me and we come to terms!"

_But that is the term, pretty Doppelganger. You have been claimed by the darknessss, _all_ of you, and you don't get to leave with light intact. You give us your light and leave, or you sssstay and we _take_ it. That issss the deal we offer._

"We'll take it!" Kol declared loudly, and Katherine growled at him. This was _her_ deal, and he didn't get to decide if they accepted it. "Oh, growl elsewhere, Katerina. Stay if you wish, but I will take their offer. What is a little darkness to an Original?"

"Gorgeous?" the strange voice said, and Katherine thought it was speaking to her at first, but then she realized that no, the word was meant for Caroline.

"Really, Enzo?" Kol scoffed, and Katherine wanted to smack herself. Of course, that's who the voice belonged to – Damon's little friend Enzo. But… how did he die? And how did he come to care enough about Caroline to speak in that soft, concerned tone with her. "You know the girl for a day and you're willing to give up your chance at release if she tells you to? Pathetic."

_All or nothing_, the shades say, but they sound amused at the interplay in the group. _We don't allow half measures. You all take the offer, or none of you do._

"Bonnie," Caroline gasped out, and Katherine felt her jerk against her. "Bonnie. Include Bonnie in the deal."

_The anchor?_ The shades pause at that, considering. _She is not in our darknesss, we cannot take her until she joinsss here_.

"Isn't there any way?" Caroline demanded, her voice desperate.

_You can accept our offer. We will asssissst Katerina in the ssspell, and then you can convince her to take the deal when Purgatory is dessstroyed. That isss our offer, little golden girl._

"Deal," Caroline said to Katherine. "I'll accept their deal."

Katherine felt a thrill of victory, because of them all, Caroline was the only one who would balk. The rest of them would accept darkness, but Caroline? Katherine actually feels surprised at her willingness… but then again…

_Bonnie. Include Bonnie in the deal._

Hadn't Katherine just been musing on her loyalty? If it meant Bonnie survived, of course Caroline would do anything, and perhaps, just maybe, it was a little for herself as well. Because Katherine remembered looking at Caroline and thinking how alike the blonde was to the young Katerina Petrova, and Katerina had hunger herself to survive.

Perhaps this was Caroline's noose.

_Every sssspell cast comessss with a price. Are you sure you want to pay the price of thissss one?_

The shades were amused once more, because they knew they weren't really giving them a choice. It was accept their deal, or remain here in torment, and what sort of option was that? But they wanted to send them away, questioning themselves, their decisions.

Katherine felt Caroline tense and thought she might change her mind, and Katherine closed her eyes, because this was her one way out the darkness and the insanity it carried, and one word from Caroline could bring a halt to that escape.

"I'm sure," the blonde said instead, but she didn't sound sure, not at all.

_Deal, then_. The shades purred.

And then Caroline's uncertainty ceased to matter.

**AN: So, not as dark as the prologue, but that's yet to come. So look forward to blood, death, and sex in future chapters… in fact, it will start with the next chapter. **


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